Catching Up

With the pile of papers on my desk only marginally diminished, let's sort through some things that slipped through the cracks....

Masters Stuff - We're still a few days away from getting serious about any of this, so we'll lead with Joe Passov's entertaining Eighteen Things You Didn't Know About Augusta National and The Masters, though of course I know most of them.  The fact that I cheated and read the book does not diminish that accomplishment in any way....

Here's a sample:

11. Aside from Alister MacKenzie, 10 other practicing architects have tinkered with Augusta National. Most underrated was Perry Maxwell, who converted the ho-hum par-4 7th into a terror, with its shallow, elevated green fronted by deep bunkers [photo right]. He also relocated the 10th green some 50 yards up a hill and to the right. The most prominent change was made by Robert Trent Jones Sr., who in 1947 transformed the par-3 16th from an easy 145-yard pitch over a creek into a 170-yard shot over a pond, with a brand new tee and a new green well to the right of the original.

OK, the original 16th was quite a weak hole.  But while the hole is more formidable, I still don't like the green much...  There seems to me little reason to place the pin near the water on Sunday, when the slope of the green provides a safer target away from the hazard that feeds the ball towards it.  And the hole location the back-right tier is simply dreadful, unless you're a fan of watching uphill 30-footers all day.

The switching of the nines is also widely misunderstood:

13. Augusta National's nines were switched after the inaugural Masters in 1934. Yet, records show Alister MacKenzie had first conceived of the current configuration, then changed the plan prior to construction in 1931, possibly to have the 18th (the present 9th) finish near the “new” clubhouse. The nines were reversed, to their present order, because the lowest parts of the course (today's 10th through 12th holes) were susceptible to frost and drainage issues. Switching the nines allowed play to start earlier -- and yes, for more drama near round's end.

And this:

17. For years, it was mistakenly written that Bobby Jones chose Dr. Alister MacKenzie to design his dream course on the strength of Jones' positive visits to MacKenzie's Cypress Point and Pasatiempo in 1929. Actually, the two men had met earlier at St. Andrews, and it was their shared love of the Old Course that bonded the two. MacKenzie's last visit to Augusta occurred in the summer of 1932, so he never got to see his completed work. He died on January 6, 1934, less than three months before the first Masters.

Well, both were important.  As was the ever-interesting Marion Hollins...  But two other factoids about Dr. Mackenzie:

1. Of his masterpieces, Pasatiempo was the only one he saw finished;
2. The good Dr. was never paid for his work by Augusta National.  

Less interesting is this slideshow of Nine Things Augusta National Doesn't Want You To Talk About, which seems intended to confirm the worst instincts as relates to the club.

This is interesting:

How difficult the course is

Augusta National is one of the few courses to have never been given an official course rating by the USGA. Its members actually use their own system developed by co-founder Cliff Roberts. However, Golf Digest had Dean Knuth, former USGA senior director and inventor of the rating system, evaluate the course on his own in 2009. He came up with a course rating of 78.1 and a slope of 137.

That slope might seem low to many, but the course is wide open with no rough....  And while the greens will torment the bogey golfer, such players will three-jack on any greens.

I include this one only because my understanding is that this will be another disappointing year:

How the azaleas are so perfect

Rumor has it, Augusta National freezes its famed plants during warmer years to ensure they’re always in full bloom the week of the Masters. However, in 2012, there was a noticeable lack of color when the flowers bloomed before the tournament. So maybe the rumor isn’t true. Or maybe someone forgot to do his job that year. . .

But this is more typical:

Masters attendance

Augusta National is particular when it comes to referring to those attending the Masters as patrons, but it doesn't release the particulars on how many patrons go to the tournament each year. We're not sure why, but we know the exact number is whatever Augusta National decides. The Masters remains one of the toughest tickets in all of sports.

The club's relationship with CBS and the details of the TV presentation remain a subject of interest and considerable frustration to me.  David Owen spends considerable time on this subject and it's really quite ironic in many ways....

The characterization, as noted in another slide, that The Masters traded control of the broadcast for lesser rights fees is both accurate and incomplete.  For much of the period, ABC was the dominant player in golf broadcasting, and Cliff Roberts was concerned that a second voice remain viable.  And while Roberts had very specific criticisms of certain aspects of their work, he was also responsible for forcing many positive changes.  It was Roberts who relentlessly pushed CBS to broadcast in color, as well as pushing for cameras behind the tee boxes so viewers could discern the flight of the ball.

What's maddening is that somewhere on this journey, long after Roberts' death, The Masters lost interest in the use of technology to enhance the broadcast.  Today's broadcast features piped-in bird noises, but no ProTracer, blimp shots or on-course reporters.  I love the limited commercials and can even embrace the delightfully-awkward Butler Cabin ceremony, but can I please see ProTracer on the thirteenth tee at least once before I pass on?

For anyone that thinks I seem a Clifford Roberts apologist, I can only encourage you to read David Owen's history.  There's much that can be criticized in hindsight, but it was his relentless drive and attention to detail that created the greatest golf tournament in the world.  But Roberts was popular with the staff and in the caddie shack of the club, which somehow never gets noted....  And the man had a sense of humor.

The funniest Roberts story from the book covers the introduction of scoring in relation to par, another Masters innovation.  When it was pointed out to him that the use of red and green numbers on scoreboards might be indecipherable to those that suffered from red-green color blindness, he suggested that they could simply ask a club member to explain which was which.  And of course one can always find a member at the tourney, they're the folks in green jackets.  <Rim shot>

Admit it, you laughed...

Da' Girls - From Golf.com's extensive game story..... Not.  For the second consecutive day, they refuse to admit to the existence of a women's major.  Where's Martha Burke when we need her...

From an actual golf website:

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – LPGA fans have seen this coming for months. The tour’s

best and brightest have been lighting up leaderboards all season with unusually low numbers. That steady crescendo has led us to the year’s first major, where American Lexi Thompson holds a two-shot lead over Suzann Pettersen at 13-under 203 heading into the final round. 

Thompson, winner of the 2014 ANA Inspiration, loves the way she can attack the Dinah Shore course with driver, aiming down the right side of the fairways with a baby draw. The 22-year-old’s obsession with the gym certainly paid off on a marathon Saturday in which she played 27 holes and didn’t flinch. The key to Thompson getting a second dip in Poppie’s Pond: her putter.

There's quite a bit of talent just behind these two as well, including Inbee Park.  The young lady in second place has written her script:

“My expectations for tomorrow?” she asked rhetorically. “To get wet.”

Don't you carry and umbrella, Suzann?

Cue The Violins -  Ed Sherman with the details under this plaintive header:

Where have all the golf writers gone?

Long time passing....  

Just months before his 22nd birthday, Jordan Spieth was the talk of golf in winning the 2015 Masters. And he definitely became the biggest star in his hometown of Dallas. 

In another time, the Dallas Morning News would have owned the story. Golf once was a significant sport for the paper. For a long period through the mid-2000s, the Morning News golf writer might travel to 15 tournaments, if not more, during the season. When most papers were limited to two writers at the Masters, the Morning News was “grandfathered” in with three seats in the press room. 

Yet on the Sunday when Spieth put on the green jacket, the Dallas Morning News did not have a single reporter in Augusta to cover the hometown kid. Their coverage of Spieth’s triumph, which included a 1-A piece, came from staffers based in Dallas with the exception of a story from a freelance reporter on site. 

“Over the last 10 years, that might have been the most telling thing I’ve seen when it comes to what’s happened with golf and the media,” said Doug Ferguson, the longtime golf writer for the Associated Press. “Jordan Spieth wins the Masters, and the Dallas Morning News isn’t there? Are you kidding me?”

Well, cry me a river....  Obviously the media landscape has changed dramatically, but this rending of garments seems especially myopic to me.  It may be notable that a once-venerable institution no longer employs golf writers, but it's barely a first-world problem.

And, of course, you know where the blame lies:

The new media world also has seen the rise of numerous golf blogs, and everyone being

able to voice an opinion on social media. That means more people than ever are talking about golf, which is a good thing. However, there are plenty of minuses. 

DiMeglio is among the mainstream writers who complain that several of these blogs will throw anything out there in the interest of traffic. 

“Some blog will post, ‘Tiger Woods is making a major announcement on Friday,’ ” DiMeglio said. “Then we have to chase it even though 99 percent of the time it isn’t true. It irritates the agents and it irritates the players.”

Mean to me, why must you be....  OK, I promise, I'll stop with the song lyrics, but golf writers complaining about the lack of opportunities for golf writers is just tedious.

The media landscape has changed pretty dramatically and legacy media have adapted horribly to the new environment.  I don't have a ton of sympathy for these institutions, because they seem determined to not have to change....

But to me the relevant question is whether there's sufficient interesting content available on our game, and I think there is.  The best golf writers out there may have had to scramble to find a platform, but supply very much exceeds demand....which, after all is said and done, seems to be Mr. Sherman's complaint.

Best April Fool's Day Prank Evah - Twitter followers of a certain Englishman were delighted to see this:

Poulter in the Masters?  Ha, that's a good one.... Who's gonna tell him that it's a professional tournament?